Perhaps it was because the Chaos Yuriko had been exposed to–and absorbed–was mixed in with fragments of the Realms of Thought, Ideals, and Desires, but her sleep had been anything but quiet. She floated in the dreamscape, and it was reminiscent of the dream back home, not the odd reflection that it was here.
‘The Realm of Thought.’
She knew what it was now. She had not until she read it in Greyith’s library. Of course, she could have found out earlier if she’d bothered to attend other professors’ lectures, specifically Cosmology, which she had ignored back then.
Hmm, she supposed Blanca didn’t recommend it since she didn’t know Yuriko wasn’t from the Great Continent. In the beginning, she certainly didn’t know that there would be differences.
It was those differences that made it so she hadn’t been affected by the Celestial Refraction. That one day that wasn’t part of the year or the next, but perpetually in an in-between state, had not been much different than any other day of the year. There was no day of darkness. Instead, the air around them became flushed with Elemental energies that were dense enough to be visible. Most people spent the day worshipping the Arcadian deities, and that was probably another subject Yuriko had to research. She had not asked specifics from people but had eavesdropped enough to learn something.
From what she gathered, the gods and goddesses of Arcadia were personifications of the Elements. They were given additional humanoid traits, such as the goddess of water being a goddess of beauty. But then, it wasn’t hard to realise that there was more than one personification of the Elements and most of the goddesses had beauty attached to their portfolio. It felt strange to her since her people worshipped the Ancestors and gave thanks to what had been done before in order to make the present much better.
So what have the gods and goddesses done to make the people’s lives better? As far as she could figure out, they were worshipped and praised in order to avoid pain and suffering. That wasn’t a pleasant faith.
Ah, even in a dream her mind wandered all over the place. Ehehe. Actually, she had dozens of different thoughts, all going in diverse directions, and each one saw and felt something else.
Her main consciousness was floating in the familiar mists, except she couldn’t seem to get back to her material body. Her Anima wasn’t completely here, she knew, just strands of consciousness while she recovered. Diving into Pure Chaos had almost been suicide despite how powerful her physique was. She was not made out of Primordial Chaos after all, even if each particle of her body held a Radiant Core. Radiant energy could be overwhelmed by Chaos, or any Element really, as long as there was too much of it. And the in-between space, the Realms of Chaos, was so replete with it that no amount of devouring, igniting, and conversion was enough to overcome it. Instead, her Anima, physique, and Mien absorbed as much Chaos as they could before she got oversaturated. Thankfully, she’d only been there for a few seconds and she had been prepared to leave as soon as she entered.
Still, what were these visions appearing in front of her now? And why was there a sticky thread clinging to her tummy? It was pale and thin, barely even there, but as with any other Thread of Fate, she couldn’t touch it with her hands or Anima. Her Mien stirred sleepily, and she got the sense that it might be able to manipulate the threads…after all, she was sure the Mishala Mien was empowered by it. No, she had proof of it after her campaign of inflicting Terror on every weakling soldier she had to fight, her Mien grew stronger and easier to manage…
She poked at the weak thread and it somehow grew a bit more robust, as though her very attention gave it legitimacy. Huh, she should probably ignore it. But why does her eye seem drawn to it like no other thread there was? She didn’t even know who it represented. She could recognize the major threads attached to her, of course, and she knew she was close to Gwendith, Heron, Saki, and Devotee. Ryoko and Fluffington were nearby, but not too close.
She glanced at the visions, which were shown through a window in the mists. She recognised events of her past: battles against the Chaos Lords, moments with her brothers…
Kato wallowing in darkness…
Flames…dark black and crimson red. A hand extended…Kato took it, while his other hand clutched at the stillness of his fiance, Caera…
The flames moved inside and burned. Oh, how they burned…
What was going on?
Yuriko blinked and was met only with unbroken mists. She could feel the pull of her body, tugging her consciousness back, and she didn’t resist.
When she opened her eyes and her Anima perception spread she realised quite a few things.
One, her clothes had been burnt off, and she was only in underwear, not hers, underneath blankets. Two, Gwendith was right next to her, but not cuddled up. Three, so was Saki. Four, Heron and Devotee were inside the…tent? Yup, they were inside the tent. Both men were leaning against the tentpoles, sitting cross-legged. Heron kept glancing at her face tenderly and the naked longing on it was unmistakable. Devotee wasn’t even pretending to only glance, and his gaze roamed up and down her body. Five, Her burns were mostly healed, except there was a fire in her loins when she felt their gazes on her.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Ah, the tent was nestled underneath an overhang and outside was covered in at least two paces of snow. There was no brazier inside since she was giving out enough heat to keep everyone comfortable, and the blanket was rather suffocating.
Yuriko sighed and opened her eyes, an act that was immediately noticed by everyone.
“Yuri!” Gwendith squeaked at her ear, and Yuriko winced at the tinnitus it caused. The other girl muttered a quick apology. “How…what happened?”
“Give me a moment to take Elemental Form,” Yuriko muttered. The burns on her skin were somewhat healed, but she had deep bruises on her torso and legs, as well as cracked ribs. From the way her head pounded, she probably had a cracked skull too. “Give me space.”
Saki and Gwendith scuttled away and Yuriko pulled her Anima as close to her body as she could. Then, she threw off the blanket, and since she didn’t want to incinerate her underwear, took them off too, then assumed Radiant Elemental Form for a brief half second. She returned to a physical body afterwards, relished the looks of lust from the other four, then covered her nudity with a blanket before she slipped her borrowed panties and chemise back on. Unfortunately, her backpack and extra clothes were probably with Ryoko. Her hip satchel and safe pouch were…well, safe since her Anima instinctively protected the spatially expanded bags. She saw them tucked away in a corner with the rest of the others’ gear, though she was somewhat concerned that the runescript enchantment had taken a beating. She’d have to repair them as soon as possible. Unfortunately, her hip satchel didn’t contain a change of clothes.
“Nice to see you back in good health,” Gwendith said. Her face was flushed and the look of lust behind her eyes was unmistakable. “So what happened?”
Yuriko frowned as the playfulness her dreams engendered evaporated, “A Grand Magus attacked. I had to fight him off. Drastic measures were taken and…well, you saw the result.”
“The explosion of light that shook the plane?” Heron asked, “You were out for the rest of the night. It’s a couple of hours after dawn.”
Yuriko shook her head. “I guess that’s not so bad.”
“Tell me more!” Gwendith demanded and Yuriko gave an abbreviated story. She focused on her senses and realised that Ryoko and Fluffinton were only half a dozen leagues away.
“Saki, can you guide Ryoko and my familiar, Fluffington here? They probably have my clothes and gear. They’re six leagues that way.” Yuriko pointed. “Devotee, can you accompany her?”
“Yes, mistress.”
“As you command, master.”
“You should rest. And eat,” Gwendith said.
“Ration bars?” Yuriko asked with a pout.
“All we have that’s easy to prepare.” Gwendith agreed.
Saki and Devotee pushed open the tent’s entrance flap and let in a few flurries of snow. Yuriko caught them and flung them outside.
The three of them sat in a rather awkward silence for a few minutes. Gwendith simply stared at Yuriko with a small, knowing smile, while Heron fidgeted while sitting on his heels. Yuriko didn’t look at him directly, but carefully observed him with her perception and the touch of her Mien.
Several weeks of absence and she had missed his steadfast company terribly almost as much as Gwendith’s. She knew what he wanted from her, and honestly, she was starting to want it, too.
She stared at Gwendith’s eyes for a long moment, and the other girl sighed. “Shall I leave too?” Gwendith murmured.
“No, stay.” Yuriko took Gwendith’s hand. This prompted Heron to nod and stand, clearly intending to give them privacy. “Wait.” Yuriko said softly, yet she felt Heron stiffen.
“Yes?” When he looked at her, the light of hope behind his eyes shone as bright as the Radiant Sun at its zenith.
“Stay. Please.”
He glanced at Gwendith and his expectant look changed to worry. “Are you…going to be alright?”
Gwendith took a deep breath, turned to stare at him, then nodded. Her eyes flickered towards his chest. She flinched but she took another deep breath and said, “Yeah. I’ll…I’ll be fine.”
Yuriko’s grip on her beloved’s hand tightened, but the other girl shook her head and insisted, “I’ll be fine. I asked for this,” she said jokingly.
Yuriko nodded, then looked at Heron, who was still fidgeting by the tent flap indecisively. That was a bit annoying. She let the blanket covering her modesty drop, then seized him with her Animakinesis and pulled him close, plopping him right next to her. She took his hand with her other hand.
“Do you want this?” he asked.
Yuriko looked up at his eyes, then nodded.
_______________
In the midst of thousands…millions…uncountable threads that spanned the entirety of a spatially expanded building, Misha’s Incarnation lounged like a spider in the midst of its web. Every quiver was noted, from the most minuscule to those that had the potential to alter the flow of history. Knowledge and information passed through the incarnation’s mind at a rate thousands of times more than what a mortal could bear.
Many things had changed ever since Damien cut her out from the heart of Emerys, and the once blank canvas had been stained with myriad hues. Innocence had only lasted for so long, but her birthright couldn’t return to her Authority. Not when its remnants were grasped by dozens of shadows, shards, and memories.
Still…a fraction of an infinite thing…was ultimately still infinite.
The fraction she held was more than enough to maintain her being, but that thing also made her sensitive to when the Authority was continuously split.
And she felt it now. A rather large chunk of Lust was torn. Not just from her, but from the remnants of the Conqueror. It flowed through the Threads of Fate, and Misha couldn’t help but follow it.
Only she and the Conqueror were capable of holding and tearing the Authority… but her descendants also had that limited capability.
There was only one other who had a similar capacity, wasn’t there?
Misha felt a rather vicarious thrill. She couldn’t resist but follow the momentary connection to peek.
And peek she did, and saw more than what she expected. “Oh my, how bold a path she walks…”
End of Book 13